Daily and general garments and textiles

Daily and general garments and textiles

A virago sleeve is a full, paned sleeve, used in the early seventeenth century in western Europe. It was made from a series of cloth strips, which were gathered into two puffs by a ribbon or cloth band just above the elbow. The main sleeve strips were often embroidered. This type of sleeve was fashionable for women’s clothing in the 1620's and '30's. GVE 

The archaeological site of Vlasac lies in the Upper Gorge of the Danube, modern Servia. Among the finds are two burials, apparently from the seventh millennium BC, that appear to include clothing embellished with applied fish teeth and shell beads.

Milos Pholegandros is an island in the Greek Cyclades archipelago. This particular embroidery from the island dates to the eighteenth century. It was probably originally part of a valance. It is made on a linen ground with coloured silk threads. The embroidery was carried out using chain stitch, cross stitch, long-armed cross stitch, darning stitch and satin stitch.

The Wodehouse jacket is an early seventeenth century woman’s garment housed in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, USA. The jacket dates to 1610-1615 and appears to have been altered at a later period. It is made from an undyed linen (tabby weave), and decorated with silk and metallic threads, as well as spangles and bobbin lace made with a metallic thread. The design on the jacket consists of a daffodil scroll pattern.

The Textile Research Centre in Leiden has a cotton woman's blouse (locally called a pirahan) from Iran, which is decorated with metal thread hand embroidery. It dates to the first half of the twentieth century.

The British Museum in London houses an embroidered woman's blouse from Russia, which dates to the period 1895-1910. It measures 84 x 170 cm. Made of cotton, the blouse is decorated with simple embroidery worked with red silk threads, using cross stitch.

The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin houses an embroidered woman's shirt from Yarkand, Xinjiang, in the most western part of China. It dates to the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, and was acquired during the Second Turfan Expedition (1904-1907), led by Albert von Le Coq (1860-1930). The fabric is made of cotton. The embroidery is worked with silk. The tunic measures 123 x 208 cm.

In the Turkish world, the word yaglik originally referred to a piece of cotton or linen, rectangular in shape, of various sizes, which was used as a napkin. It was often embroidered at both ends. In later years, the word referred to an embroidered textile that was used to decorate the house or for other purposes, on special occasions. Young brides often had yagliks in their trousseau.

Page 7 of 7